29Jun16

Chinese National Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Smuggling High Tech
U.S. Military Hardware to China

Kan Chen, 26, of Ningbo, China, in Zhejiang Province, was sentenced to 30
months in prison and three years of supervised release for conspiring to
violate the Arms Export Control Act and International Traffic in Arms
Regulations; attempting to violate the Arms Export Control Act and
International Traffic in Arms Regulations; and violating the International
Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney
Charles M. Oberly III of the District of Delaware, Acting Special Agent in
Charge Gregory C. Nevano of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's
Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) Philadelphia and Special Agent in
Charge Nasir Khan of the U.S. Department of Commerce-Bureau of Industry
and Security's Office of Export Enforcement Washington Field Office made the
announcement.

On June 16, 2015, Chen was arrested by HSI agents on the Northern Mariana
Island of Saipan following an eight-month long investigation into his illegal
conduct and has remained in custody. He pleaded guilty to the offenses listed
above on March 2, 2016.

"The United States will simply never know the true harm of Chen's conduct
because the end users of the rifle scopes and other technology are unknown,"
said U.S. Attorney Oberly. "No matter their nationality, those individuals who
seek to profit by illegally exporting sensitive U.S. military technology will be
prosecuted. It is important that we take all necessary steps to prevent our
military technology and equipment from being exported and possibly used
against our service members and our allies overseas."

"These sophisticated technologies are highly sought after by our adversaries,"
said Acting Special Agent in Charge Nevano. "They were developed to give
the United States and its allies a distinct military advantage, which is why HSI
will continue to aggressively target the individuals who might illegally procure
and sell these items."

"Today's sentencing is the result of exceptional investigative work by the Office
of Export Enforcement and our law enforcement partners to disrupt an illicit
network and prevent sensitive technology from falling into the wrong hands,"
said Special Agent in Charge Khan.

According to court documents, from July 2013 through his arrest in June 2015,
Chen caused or attempted to cause the illegal export of over 180
export-controlled items, valued at over $275,000, from the United States to
China. Over 40 of those items - purchased for more than $190,000 - were
sophisticated night vision and thermal imaging scopes, which are designated
by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations as U.S. Munitions List defense
articles and can be mounted on automatic and semi-automatic rifles and used
for military purposes at night.

Given the sensitivity surrounding these military-grade items, Chen devised a
scheme to smuggle these items through Delaware and outside the United
States. He purchased the devices via the internet and telephone and had
them mailed to several reshipping services in New Castle, Delaware, which
provide an American shipping address for customers located in China, accept
packages for their customers and then re-ship them to China. In order to
further conceal his illegal activity, Chen arranged for the re-shippers to send
the devices to several intermediary individuals, who in turn forwarded the
devices to Chen in China. Chen then sent the devices to his customers.
During the course of this conduct, Chen made numerous false statements in
order to knowingly and willfully evade the export control laws of the United
States, including by undervaluing the shipments, unlawfully avoiding the filing
of export information with the U.S. government, indicating that he was a
natural-born U.S. citizen and providing the address of the reshipping service
as his own.

During the sentencing hearing, the government noted the lethality of these
items when combined with weapons designed for use on a battlefield. For
example, the ATN ThOR 640-5x, 640x480-Inch Thermal Weapon Scope, 100
mm, which Chen purchased for $8,428.39, is described by the manufacturer
as "an ideal product for force protection, border patrol officers, police SWAT
and special operations forces providing them the tools they need to be
successful in all field operations both day and night. Uncooled thermal
imaging cuts through dust, smoke, fog, haze, and other battlefield obscurants."
These rifle scopes, therefore, are weapons of war, and Chen's smuggling and
subsequent sale of these military-grade items outside of the United States
directly undermines our nation's national security interests.

As the government further noted, Chen's conduct was particularly harmful
because he sold this military technology indiscriminately. Thus, it could have
ended up in any number of nefarious hands - including agents of foreign
governments, bad actors and brokers. Once these rifle scopes were exported
to China and distributed by Chen to his customers, the military technology
contained inside these items could have been reversed engineered or used
anywhere in the world for a variety of purposes by oppressive regimes,
terrorists, or others to threaten the United States or its allies' military
advantage or to commit human rights abuses.

This case was investigated by HSI and U.S. Department of Commerce-Bureau
of Industry and Security's Office of Export Enforcement. It is being prosecuted
by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jamie M. McCall and Elizabeth L. Van Pelt of the
District of Delaware and the National Security Division's Counterintelligence
and Export Control Section.

This document has been published on 12Jul16 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with
Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a
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